Baseball’s Connection With Martin Luther King Jr.
As America takes time to honor Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. today, I began to wonder if the great civil rights leader had any connection to our nation’s pastime.
- In his 1972 autobiography I Never Had It Made, Jackie Robinson wrote a chapter called “The
Influence of Martin Luther King, Jr.”
- USA Premier Baseball holds an annual Martin Luther King Tournament for 18u and 16u teams. This year it’s being played January 13 – 17.
- There’s only been one player in the history of major league baseball with the initials MLK: Matthew Lon Keough. The 6-foot-3 righty went 58-84 in nine major league seasons with Oakland, St. Louis, Chicago (NL), New York (AL), and Houston.
- In Plant City, Florida, the city has built the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ball Fields. If only you could call
Leslie Knope with the Parks and Recreation Department to schedule field times. I’m sure they have someone in Plant City equally capable as Ms. Knope.
- In October of last year, Major League Baseball donated $1 million to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. A 450-foot inscription wall features 14 quotations from Dr. King’s speeches, sermons, and writings.
Hopefully you have today off and are reading this from the comfort of your couch. If not, hopefully reading this at least gave you a few minutes off. Either way, thanks to MLK for all he did for our country.
-AG
